Alternative Theatre and Conventional Theatre

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The conventional theatre started loosing the social relevancy during the 19th and 20th century. A more uncompromising method of bringing social issues to the stage appeared out of the realities of life. In this case, the presentation of factual information usually takes precedence over aesthetic considerations and there alternative theatre stepped in. Fuelled by the world wars the theatre found a new dimension in this form. Just as the visual arts exploded into a chaos of experiment and revolt, generating numerous styles and “isms,” so the theatre seized upon anything that came to hand in an effort to express the contradictions of the new age. The shock of a world war that spawned widespread disillusionment and alienation. The results of this eclecticism were often anarchic and exhilarating: designers and directors were as influential as playwrights, though relatively little theatre of lasting value was produced. Nevertheless, such early experiments set the tone and widened the theatrical vocabulary for all the innovations that have followed. The real interest was no longer in a theatre that seeks to "recreate" life and whose laws are those of "nature." The effects were in every aspects of the theatre, i.e. Naturalistic scenery had led to an excessive clutter of archaeologically authentic detail on stage, the reaction against it favoured simplicity, even austerity, but with a heightened expressiveness that could convey the true spirit of a play rather than provide merely superficial dressing.
The Alternative Theatre was able to offer what the audience was looking for ‘the social relevancy’ .It offered them to integrate them with the theatrical medium and there it differentiated from the conventional theatre.

In Alternative theatre, the spectator tended to identify with the characters on stage and become emotionally involved with them rather than being stirred to think about his own life as compared to conventional theatre where the spectator is amused by externalities. The alternative theatre allowed and encouraged the audience to adopt a more critical attitude to what was happening on stage by relating to the real life situations. New political realities and views are pronounced through the medium of Alternative Theatre and it crossed the boundaries set in the conventional theatre between the spectator and the stage. The theatre left the traditional domain of amusement to offer new views and guidance to the spectator and there is the success of Alternative Theatre. It created a new form of theatrical expression much closer to the audience & its society than the conventional form.

Following the example of the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, a profusion of “fringe” theatres sprang up in converted cellars, warehouses, and the back rooms of pubs. Rock music, Dada, and Artaud were inspiration for groups such as The People Show, Pip Simmons Theatre Group, and Ken Campbell's Road Show. Other companies—Foco Novo, Portable Theatre, 7:84, Belt & Braces, and CAST—were more politically motivated.

Conclusion:

Efforts to rebuild the cultural fabric of civilization after the devastation of World War II led to a rethinking of the role of theatre in the new society. Competing with the technical refinements of motion pictures, radio, and television (all of which were offering drama), the live theatre had to rediscover what it could give to the community that the mass media could not. In one direction, this led to a search for a “popular” theatre that would embrace the whole community, just as the Greek theatre and the Elizabethan theatre had done. In another, it brought to fruition a new wave of experiments that had started before the war and was not to subside until the early 1970s—experiments that sought more radically than ever to challenge the audience, breaking down the barriers between spectators and performers. New forms of expression of social expectations came out I.e. Gothic subculture. The social causes are also playing the vital role to be a source of inspiration for the creators of Alternative Theatres. The political system has its role in the present Alternative Theatre to promote the political agendas of bringing changes.

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